A typical pass line in a hot-dip galvanization line is represented on FIG. 1. An immersed roll 1, called a sink roll, is used to deflect the strip 11 coming from the furnace 17 to the vertical pass up to a roll 5, called a top roll. Additional rolls 2, 3 are usually used to improve the strip flatness in front of the gas wiping nozzle 6.
FIG. 2 is a front view of the pot hardware viewed from the sheet plane to the entry area of the strip in the pot. The pot 4 contains the liquid metal used to coat the strip. This pot typically has a volume of 24 to 35 m3 and is lined with ceramic bricks 7 which do not suffer from corrosion by the liquid metal.
According to prior art, these immersed rolls are supported by a metal frame 8, which is most of the time made of stainless steel for the submerged parts. If sink roll 1 is always used, the additional roll 3 is sometimes not used and does not always exist on all the equipments. Frame 8 supporting all the rolls must be fixed in the concrete next to the ceramic bricks assembly 7 to avoid any damage on the pot 4 while having a very high stiffness and resistance to sustain the high strip tension going up to 10 tons.
The roll length is always higher that the maximum width of the strip galvanized. Therefore, the length of the barrel is usually higher than 2 meter and the distance, between the two points 9, 10 anchored in a concrete base, higher than 5 meters. The whole frame 8 is thus very large and difficult to handle and store in the maintenance shop.
Document US 2011/0119905 A1 discloses a device for installing at least one roller in a liquid zinc bath in a galvanizing line used for the galvanization of a continuously-moving steel strip having a beam to which a first pair of arms is attached. The first pair of arms bears a bottom roller. The bottom roller is intended to be submerged in the liquid zinc bath towards a bottom roller operation position, relative to the naturally submerged position of the bottom roller, by way of a movement provided together with a first cylindrical bearing attached to each of the two ends of the beam and supporting the first pair of arms. A second cylindrical bearing is attached to each of the two ends of the beam and separate from the first cylindrical bearing on the same beam end section. A push device interacts with at least one of the first and second cylindrical bearings such that, in the operation position, the first and second cylindrical bearings are maintained in a single predetermined plane and such that the first cylindrical bearing is disposed under the second cylindrical bearing at a minimum supporting height along a vertical plane.